Well I currently live with my mom/brother since I have been going to community college but I'm about to transfer to a university pretty soon. I mean its about 1 hour 30 mins away from my house I can't really commute by car because I would be too tired of driving especially if I have to drive 4 days a week and I work at the same time plus with studying. I personally think the time doesn't really matter to me but the actual driving itself especially since the college is located in a very busy city which is San Francisco in CA. The thing is I hate having to live with random people and especially if they don't have anything in common with me and are such a mess. If I can't really find suitable people then I would probably just take the Bart train which is a 20 min drive from my house then take the Bart train to San Francisco which takes 1 hour then I would take a free shuttle to the university which takes 10 mins. I will probably be very tired everyday but that's life you know :(.

So I was wondering how you found your roommates and if there suitable for you? Also you can tell us about your experience. Or any other details that you want to add.

PS: If someone is looking for a roommate that lives pretty close to San Francisco University in CA or if someone is looking for roommates hit me up. Just putting that out there for the hell of it and its not like i'm super desperate because I can always live where i'm currently at until I actually find good people. My mom wants me out if I can actually find some good roommates so I just put this out there lol.(I can also cook Japanese Food if that's a +)

You're right. Random roomies are awful. It's hard to find clean roommates who are guys, and even a lot of girls are messy.

My first roomie was a random and it was terrible. He'd smoke and drink heavily all the time. I was pretty pissed that he was also one of those guys who put rap and hip-hop on full blast all day long. During the second week, his friends rushed into the room drunk and high looking for him, making a ruckus when I was sleeping and woke me up. I had an important class the following day. Needless to say, I got mad and that was the last straw. After that, I pretty much ONLY used my real room as a storage room for clothes and supplies.

I lived with two of my friends in their loft at a separate dorm for a while. They had a roomie who was pretty much never there to the extent that the RA thought I was the dude and got mad when he found out I wasn't (lol). After that, I ended up living with a girl I was dating for about two weeks at her house, then I moved over to my friend's dorm since her roomies didn't mind either and the house was a hassle to get to every day.

My first year was pretty hectic, to say the least. My real room was always smelly and the hall was very dirty. The loft smelled like puke since people drank all the time. The girls' dorm had a big fruit fly outbreak until I identified the flies and made them look everywhere for the fruit (turns out someone left a bag of fruit under their bed and clouds of those little buggers were emerging from there).

You're right. Random roomies are awful. It's hard to find clean roommates who are guys, and even a lot of girls are messy.

My first roomie was a random and it was terrible. He'd smoke and drink heavily all the time. I was pretty pissed that he was also one of those guys who put rap and hip-hop on full blast all day long. During the second week, his friends rushed into the room drunk and high looking for him, making a ruckus when I was sleeping and woke me up. I had an important class the following day. Needless to say, I got mad and that was the last straw. After that, I pretty much ONLY used my real room as a storage room for clothes and supplies.

I lived with two of my friends in their loft at a separate dorm for a while. They had a roomie who was pretty much never there to the extent that the RA thought I was the dude and got mad when he found out I wasn't (lol). After that, I ended up living with a girl I was dating for about two weeks at her house, then I moved over to my friend's dorm since her roomies didn't mind either and the house was a hassle to get to every day.

My first year was pretty hectic, to say the least. My real room was always smelly and the hall was very dirty. The loft smelled like puke since people drank all the time. The girls' dorm had a big fruit fly outbreak until I identified the flies and made them look everywhere for the fruit (turns out someone left a bag of fruit under their bed and clouds of those little buggers were emerging from there).

Yeah my friends that live in the dorms say the same thing lol. That's why I don't really want to get random roommates. I can't really room with my best friends since they are currently at different colleges which sucks. Also it must have been awful lol.

The only thing you can do is talk to potential roomies until you find some that fit (don't be anxious about turning people down!). Exchange some emails about lifestyle, work, house etiquette, expectations of one another. The more details you work out the better picture of how living with them will be. You're not looking for a best friend that you share everything with, but you ARE looking for someone that will respect you and your shared home. Also make sure to put yourself to the test and figure out how YOU can be a good roommate.

Start searching early by the way. Contact your school and see if they have a roommate finding board or something.

I had about 10 random roomates in my life, I move a lot with study and my part time job...most of the one I had spoke english so it made me practice (french is my first language)...but recently I got my own apartment and my sister moved with me and things good really smoothly, I like it

I shared a student flat with two other people for my first quarter. One smoked a lot, the other was a glutton. I could tolerate the smoker, but the glutton was the most inhuman and unclean person I have ever had the misfortune to know. She would use all my cooking pots and dinnerware, leaving them figuratively covered in bird droppings, a testament to how poorly she cooked and cleaned. She even woke me up from sleep I desperately needed just because it was her birthday and she wanted me to drive her to Costco. Costco is not even open during the early morning hours!

I now live at home and commute to and from weekly, but I'm glad I'm not paying $800 monthly to live with those people. I think the amount I have to spend on gas and student parking is not even anywhere as costly.

I used to share a decent sized condo with a girl I met in one of my first semester college classes. She wanted to get out of her parents house so she was looking for someone who could afford to room with her and I was less than enthralled with my living situation at the time (I was living with my ex) so I took her up on the offer. She wasn't terribly useful when it came to housework but she kept the house filled with groceries and didn't mind me bringing girls home at all hours of the night so I let it slide. She was a pretty excellent roommate and the only reason I ended up moving out was because I bought a house with my fiance.

You could always put out a want ad and meet with potential candidates, hitting up Craig's list is another option. I'm not sure if this'll work for you but at the college I went to there were bulletin boards everywhere which I always noticed. Occasionally i'd see flyers advertising that people were looking for roommates. I don't know if they're successful but it's something to consider.

It is the luck of the draw with roommates. I went in blind my first year of college and my roommate was really cool and laid back, so I lucked out. And second year my suite-mates in the room next to us are really cool too. For the most part I haven't really heard to many people with horrible experiences (but I have a heard a few). Like someone else suggested, you could try looking on craigslist (although I had a friend that did and she HATES her roommates so who knows with that lol). I would suggest being open and respectful to your roommate right off the bat and lay some ground rules. If you are both respectful to each other you can usually work out most problems. In the end though, it is still the luck of the draw, good luck!

I give kudos to people who have the patience to move in with some random person they have never met before. From all the horror stories I've heard from my friends it sounds like more often than not it is a disaster. Most of the people I know always move into an apartment the next year instead of spending more time in the dorms. I have no patience when it comes to people's annoying tendencies so I know I would go crazy.

Random roommates are hit and miss - but sometimes it seems they are more likely to miss than hit. If you DO find a roommate you get along well with, stick with that person for as long as possible!

My first two roommates were OK - until I found out that one of them hadn't paid any rent after the second month. He disappeared, so the apartment office went after us for his rent money (which happens with "joint and severally liable" leases, which are common. My other roommate decided he was going to take them to court (despite the fact that he signed the contract. I ended up negotiating with the office and paid $500 instead of the full $3000 "owed". I have no idea what my roommate decided to do, but I highly doubt he won.

My second two roommates were great - we stayed out of each others way, didn't eat each others food, and had friendly chats. It was all going fine until one of the roommates started cheating on his girlfriend. On the night it all came to light, I hear his girlfriend in his room crying, saying "stop, let me go!" I had to threaten to call the cops - no idea what would have happened if I hadn't.

The next roommate is great - she was 40 years old and had been living with her parents due to the recession. She had found a job at Sam's Club and moved in with us. She respects our privacy, doesn't steal stuff, cleans up after herself and volunteered to do some of the chores around the apartment.

My last roommate is an alright person - but not a good roommate at all. She is disabled, so she doesn't have a job. She is constantly using the TV and constantly talking with her uncle on the phone. Since she can't drive, she occasionally asks us to drive her to the grocery store, doctor's office and hospital. Ever since she moved in, keeping the bathroom sanitary has become a problem - particularly the toilet seat. Being overweight should not be an excuse to be unsanitary. Nor should it be an excuse for not wearing pants properly.

Worst of all, though, was the drama that she brought to the apartment. Her "friend" convinced her to get a smartphone and get added to her friend's cell phone plan. Everyone pays their portion of the bill, and everything is fine, right?

Until her friend says that she needs to pay $300 per month and refuses to show her a copy of the bill. Obviously, being on a fixed income, she can't afford $300 a month, so she tells her friend that she's going to give the phone back the next day since she can't afford it. At midnight her "friend" is banging on the door screaming for us to open up and give her the phone right then and there or else she is going to call the cops. Drama ensues, she gives the phone back, and her "friend" ends up breaking into her facebook account.

But that's not the end of the drama! Later, she ends up going to an online dating site, and gives some random stranger her personal information. This stranger ends up calling and texting her with repeated death threats. The most disturbing part was that he knew what color shirt she was wearing. She ends up asking me for permission to call the cops (WTF, WHY DO YOU NEED MY PERMISSION TO CALL THE COPS WHEN SOMEONE IS SENDING YOU DEATH THREATS!!!!). After I scold her for even thinking that she needed my permission to call 911 when she thinks her life is in danger, the cops show up, they call the guy back, tell him to leave her alone and I end up showing her how to block phone numbers on her phone after the guy starts calling and texting her after the police leave.

Don't get me wrong, she isn't a bad person at all. She's just a bad roommate.

Long story short, living with roommates can suck sometimes. I am glad that I am finally graduating and starting a career elsewhere. It will be nice being the one who controls who I live with for a change.

2nd year - Very smooth. Lived with a strange white dude in an apartment (met him at my guy buddies' dorm first year) but at least he was clean and paid rent. I'd also occasionally live with the girl who let me share her dorm the first year since she got a studio and she'd get lonely and upset sometimes.

3rd year - Got a house with the aforementioned girl and another two couples. Nightmare year. People would be inconsiderate of each others' living situations, not pay rent on time, get lazy with cleaning duties.....arguments and bad juju all around so we kicked them all out. The house had the landlord's TV he left for us, washer and dryer, and a speaker system installed all around the house. Kitchen floor was new wood and the rest of the downstairs area was tile. Great place with good central heating and AC.

4th year - Renewed the house lease with my girl friend. We tried to get more roomies but they wouldn't pay rent on time, were equally dirty and disruptive, and one tried to jack the landlord's TV. We kicked them out and lived there, just the two of us, for half the remaining year. It was a vicious party year with parties literally at least once a week. Toward the end, we sort of had a falling out after she did something that pissed me off so I left, stop talking to her, and commuted for a while.

5th year - Got tired of commuting and looked for a place near school. My girl friend came back to me and apologized and wanted to talk to me again, so I gave her a chance and so far so good. We moved into a house already occupied by other people. It was the FILTHIEST house with all sorts of plumbing problems and plenty of dead and dying bugs. Nobody cleaned. Nobody took out the trash. Gross. When my kitchen items started getting stolen, I got really angry. Most of my cookware is antiquated with lots of sentimental value. I never did find the stuff they took even though they feigned innocence. We moved out into an apartment in fury. The apartment was pretty much a perfect living situation and I was satisfied with it until graduation.

Damn some good/bad stories everyone. Well I'm probably going to commute for a bit until I actually find some good people in the college too room with. I think that would be the best thing to do with my situation.

try the university facebook or there is generally info for student housing if you ask the school. If you room with a random roommate just "pray" they don't suck. Make friends and consider switching rooms mid year if you find a friend you want to room with. Or ask if they have any "singles" so you can room by yourself. My university has a few but not a lot.

I started UC Davis in 2004. Freshman year, I got stuck with a guy from Alameda. He was cool, drank socially. First quarter he managed to pledge for the Pikes, so a lot of hazing involved. He came back drunk everyday at 2am. I got lucky and had a studio apartment because that was a year that UCD was unprepared for the huge influx of students, so there was a bathroom and shower.

Since the hazing, he came back drunk, puked in the bathtub, puked in the sink (it was flooded every time we turned on the water with his puke streaming back up), puked on the floor, puked on his bed (and then he asked me to HELP him clean up). One morning at 4am, he took one of his pillows, tossed it on the floor and started peeing on it and then proceeded to go back to sleep. Notice here, that the toilet was no more than 20 feet away. He proceeded to then take that pillow a month later and sleep with it without washing it.

That same year, I met two guys on the same floor. They were pretty cool, but they were heavy pot smokers. Our RA and everyone on the floor called the cops on them and they got busted, twice. The third time they got busted, they wanted me to hide a pound of weed in my room in the vents, to which I said, no?

I met two Chinese guys, moved in with them and lived with them for 3 years. The year after that, one of the guys I met on the floor I roomed with again because I needed someone. He seemed to have matured, but gradually regressed when we got a new guy to come in, who just newly transferred. The alcohol I was okay with, but they started smoking weed and started doing coke in the comfort of the apartment? Not cool. They started to go out everyday to the bars, to which I said, that's cool. Do your own thing. I minded my own business.

One day, I'm sleeping, the friend I met freshman year that moved in decides to walk into my room at 5am, piss all over my desk, ruining my paperwork, and then proceeded to sleep on the couch in my room, for about 45 minutes. What happened 45 minutes later? He decides to get into bed with me. Here's the kicker, he's fully naked.

I get out of my bed, and the girl he was dating came out and she was also in a daze. Before I realized it, he came running out of my room covering his junk before closing the door. I'm guessing they got drugged? Both had no recollection of what happened that night. The new guy that moved in was nowhere to be seen.

New guy that came in, one day also went out with my friend and as I come back home around 9pm, I find laying outside passed out, pissed his pants. I had to drag him into the apartment because the other guy locked him out and he didn't have keys. 20 minutes later he gets up and starts pissing on the fridge door before passing out again. Guess how I knew he pissed his pants? I had to pull him by the legs. Not fun!

The last quarter before the year was over, they bought a puppy off Craigslist for $75. I come back one day and find that little thing looking at me and barking. I think to myself, "someone's dog?" No. That thing proceeded to piss, poop and bark everywhere and I was never consulted because they thought it was a good deal. Everybody in the complex was jelly.

The awesome thing was when we moved out. Property manager said, I know you guys had a dog in there and I know you didn't do it. I don't even have to take out my black light to see where it pissed and pooped everywhere. I'm going to have to take your security deposit and charge you for new carpets. She never did.

The last thing I heard from the new guy as we were moving out was that he and his girlfriend talked behind my back and called me a dick for not helping him move out. Excuse me? You treated me like poop and expect me to come help you when you DIDN'T EVEN ASK? Thanks douche.

I moved in with a few friends of mine after who were also fed up with their roommates and have been here for the past 4 years. Nobody I know can top my stories, and actually feel sorry for me at my poor luck in finding roommates. Next avenue for me is living alone since I'm fully responsible for the mess I make. I get TIRED of having to ask people to clean up and they proceed to say, since you said that, I'm not going to do it. Drives me insane.

The moral of the story is, pick your roommates wisely. Set ground rules. If you can afford it and are self sustainable, live alone.